Menu

After spending the night camping out at a spring just beyond Vápenná, we headed back along the trail. This curls downwards slowly towards Buková and you soon step back into the forest that you’ll have become accustomed to seeing at regular intervals throughout the walk by now. This part of the trail is well indicated, and you shouldn’t run into any problems heading down.

After three days in the intense heat and no shower, we were desperate for a wash, and decided to make a slight detour from the Štefánikova Magistrála trail to bathe in Buková lake. This is just under an hour’s walk from the trail, but well worth the stop. There’s a yellow connecter trail that leads north from the Štefánikova Magistrála to the the lake that’s indicated and hard to miss: it’s just before the Štefánikova Magistrála zigzags up to the ruined castle of Ostrý Kameň and then Záruby, the highest point in the entire Malé Karpaty range at 768 metres (the peak can also be accessed from the southern side, via the scenic village of Smolenice.)

The lake is surrounded by a ring of trees and farmland, and looks like an oasis to a weary walker. Even though it had rained all night, the lake wasn’t too cold, and we had it to ourselves. For those needing a proper break at this point, there’s a campsite by the lake and a fast food eatery which serves your standard Slovakian deep fried cheese and chips. With a cold beer, it’s a real treat after a long walk. We made friends with a fellow hiker and headed back on the road!

From the lake, you can join the green trail at Breziny, and follow it along the road through the town of Buková. Once you’ve reached the end of town, however, make sure to follow the main road (not the most scenic part of the walk) until Vítkov Mlyn, where the red-marked Štefánikova Magistrála trail picks up again (it’s easy to see why the trail designers took the trail over the top via Záruby). When you’re back on route and past Nespalovci, you’ll hit a nice residential area, where it’s easy to lose the trail. Look out for a sharp bend towards the right as you enter the neighborhood. After that you’ve got a long straight stretch ahead of you with few red signs to help you out, so keep an eye on the map and make sure you take a sharp left at Dolná Raková.

From there, it’s back to the forest, and a very pleasant part of the walk which is relatively flat, so you’ll be able to cover quite a bit of ground. Being so expansive, however, it’s quite easy to lose the trail and you might find yourself doubling back, or cutting across to it as you spot a mark in the distance. It’s about four hours from here to a sleepy, pretty village called Dobrá Voda. The houses and farm are really a beautiful sight as you head down through the fields. Upon entering, we were greeted with the cacophonous barking of every dog in town, a recurrent event during our venture through the Malé Karpaty’s inhabited parts.

Excited to have arrived and eager for a drink, we found the only bar in town: typically next door to the church! The kitchen had closed at six, but the staff still managed to cook up some snacks for us. The locals were very surprised to see some foreign backpackers and a singalong in broken English soon followed. The bar closed at ten, and that night we found a field and slept under the stars, which truly illuminate the sky in this isolated part of the country.

Dobrá Voda has a spectacular ruined castle just above the village – which itself has a shop, about 200m downhill from the bar, and you’ll be able to find enough for a decent breakfast. There’s also a spring here and it’s a good place to refill your bottles, and perhaps have a cheeky wash before another long day of hiking ahead.

Jonno Tranter is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator who lives in Bristol, UK. In his spare time he likes to write, have adventures, and attend music festivals. This year, he decided to combine all three into an epic trip across Slovakia! Read more about him on his online portfolio (and on stages two to five of our series of features on the Štefánikova Magistrála trail – for Jonno, part of a gruelling adventure which saw him hiking from Bratislava all the way to Trenčin: discover it through the links below).